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Francis Morse (1821-1885)
Mary Nye Snow Morse (1814-1854)
Lucie Grogan Morse (1830-1913)
Francis Morse was born on April 28, 1821. His parents were John Morse (1791-1861) and Roxa Fuller Morse (1796-1844). Ezra Morse, one of South Dedham’s early mill owners, was the great, great, great, great, grandfather of Francis Morse. Following in the footsteps of that branch of the family tree, Francis Morse was a miller, with his home and mill at the southern edge of South Dedham, later Norwood, on today’s abandoned Water Street.
Francis Morse married Mary Nye Snow on April 19, 1851 in Worcester. They had two children: John F. born in 1852 and Mary N. born in 1854. Mary Snow Morse died on March 17, 1854 of a bowel infection. She was only 30 years old.
On February 9, 1858, Francis Morse married for a second time. His wife was Lucie Grogan, who had been born in 1830 in Maine. The second marriage brought three more children into the family: Belle L. in 1859, Percy T. in 1860, and Jennie in 1868.
Through the US Census of 1880, Francis Morse continued to list his occupation as proprietor of a grist mill. He died on December 20, 1885 from cancer of the liver and spleen.
His widow, Lucie Grogan Morse then residing at 137 Vernon Street died on November 29, 1913 of pneumonia.
Francis Morse and both his wives are interred in the Morse family plot at Old Parish Cemetery.
